Olympic silver medallist shuttler P V Sindhu has been recommended for the prestigious Padma Bhushan, country's third highest civilian award, by the Sports Ministry on Monday.
Sindhu became the second athlete after former Indian cricket team skipper MS Dhoni to be nominated for the award this year.
"Yes, we have recommended Sindhu for Padma Bhushan," a Sports Ministry official told PTI.
A two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, Sindhu has been simply unstoppable ever since becoming the first Indian to win silver at Rio Games last year.
The 22-year-old from Hyderabad clinched the 2016 China Open Super Series Premier, India Open Super Series, bagged a historic silver at the Glasgow World Championship last month before laying claim to her third Super Series title at Korea Open this month.
A three-time Macau Open champion, Sindhu also won the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in Lucknow this year.
Riding on a series of good performances, Sindhu achieved a career-best world ranking of number two in April for a brief period. Last week, she climbed back to her number two position, following a good week at Seoul.
Last year, Sindhu created history by becoming the first Indian shuttler to win an Olympic silver medal as she went down fighting against Carolina Marin in the gold medal match.
In March 2015, Sindhu was awarded India's fourth highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri while in the year 2014, she won four bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games, Incheon Asian Games, Uber Cup and Asia Championship.
"Very happy that my name has been recommended for Padma Bhushan. I would like to thank the govt and the sports ministry," said PV Sindhu.
(With PTI Inputs)
